The Mere Exposure Effect
by Charlotte Thompson
Summary: Linus starts to miss being called Sally's sweet babboo. Set in teen years.


Linus exited his first hour class. He was wearing his blanket-turned-sport-coat, a white polo and a pair of long khaki pants. Sally was sitting in her cheerleader uniform talking to her friends. Ever since she joined his First Priority club, she was becoming extremely more fascinating. Sally smiled at Linus. She moved away from her friends.  
"Hi Linus." She said with a familiar smile and sweet tone.  
Linus said "Hi Sally." They looked at each other for awhile. Suddenly, one looked away and it became an awkward silence.  
"Um..." Sally stammered.  
Linus came up with a conversation. "Are you staying after for cheerleading today?"  
"Yeah, um are you staying after for debate?"  
"Yeah. So what is up between you and that kid... Um..."  
"The quarterback?" Sally asked.  
"Him."  
"Oh. Nothing. I've been too busy cheering and friends..."  
"Oh. How is Charlie Brown?" Linus inquired.  
"Better. This psychologist is helping him more. You should start hanging out with him again."  
"The only reason I stopped was because he got in with the heavy metal crowd and no matter how much sage advice I gave he still smoked and drank heavily. He stopped being my Charlie Brown and turned into a metal loving Holden Caulfield." Linus explained.  
"He is doing better." Sally noted.  
Linus smiled. "Good." They sort of looked away. "Well, I'll see you after school Sally."  
"See you after school my... Linus." She blushed as she was about to say "sweet babboo". Linus laughed.  
"Old habits die hard." Linus noted. Sally nodded.  
"See ya." She said.  
"See ya." Linus responded.  
In all of his classes, instead of thinking his typical intellectual thoughts he thought of Sally. This was a first for Linus. He would stare off and think of her golden hair and and think of her light blue eyes (Kirsten Chenoweth Good Man Charlie Brown eye color). He would think of how her cheerleading uniform showed off her body enough to show she was a woman but was loose enough to show she is a lady. He thought of when they were little and she would never leave his side. He wished for those days again. Ever since Charlie Brown had gone off the deep end and even gave Linus back his blanket, Linus saw less of Sally. He missed her annoyance. He wanted to be her "sweet babboo" again. The mere exposure effect was at work. He had seen her face so many times, it became second nature. Once after school had finally come around, Sally and Linus were waiting in the car loop together.  
"Hi." Sally said.  
"Hi, I was thinking about you a lot today." Linus said.  
Sally looked surprised. "Really?"  
Linus nodded. "I miss you. Especially our younger years. When you would stalk me and I would get annoyed."  
Sally smiled. She leaned her head on Linus's shoulder. "I miss them too. Though getting some love back would have been nice." Sally explained. "I eventually just got sick of waiting. The passion is all still here."  
Linus held Sally's chin. "Good." He gave her a sweet, hard, lip only kiss. Sally's eyes got big and she smiled.  
"So are you my sweet babboo now?" Sally asked.  
Linus nodded. "And you are my sweet babbooette."  
Sally put her head back on his shoulder. Feeling the material with her cheek she asked, "Linus is this your old blanket?"  
"I needed my blanket again after I was left in the cold by your brother, and a teenager carrying around a blanket seemed significantly less plausible than just making it into a sport coat."  
"Well now you have my love to keep you warm. Smart idea. You should show the recycling club."  
"They said it would have worked better if it weren't light blue."  
"You told them to screw themselves right?"  
"In my own way." Linus responded.  
Sally laughed and then asked. "If you are seventeen why do you need someone to pick you up?"  
"My car needs to be fixed." Linus answered.  
Sally nodded. "So is Lucy picking you up?" She asked.  
"GET MOVING YOU BLOCKHEAD!" Lucy yelled.  
Sally laughed. "Some things never change."  
Linus nodded. He stood up to leave. She grabbed his hand. Sally kissed him, popping up her leg as she did so. It was a long kiss until Lucy yelled "Come ON LINUS! SCHROEDER IS PERFORMING TONIGHT! YOU COME IN BETWEEN ME AND THAT CONCERT AND YOU DIE!"  
"She isn't bluffing." Linus assured.  
Sally smiled. "Call me." Linus nodded, before rushing off to go not get killed by Lucy.


End file.
